Can Chrome be treated the same as paint???

[ranorris2]

I have a few chrome pieces with minor scratches...I am wondering if I can treat like you would treat a clearcoat...compound, polish, wax??? Would doing this get the little scratches out, or am I just going to have to live with the scratches?

Thanks,
Ryan

[soulsea]

Well chrome is plated whereas paint/learcoat is applied, so I'd imagine the process would be somewhat different. How about something like this: http://www.ehow.com/how_4884282_remove-chrome-scratches.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

[ranorris2]

Serge you always have the answer lol. Ill have to give that a shot...got a couple things that have a little to many scratches for me.

[ranorris2]

I have not tried the process Serge mentioned yet, but does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to re-chrome an escalade roof rack? I emailed a few places and am anxiously/nervously waiting to hear the price quote. I'm afraid its going to be outrageously expensive, so I'm hoping one of you can chime in and tell me otherwise...

[yates ™]

A chrome polish can take out small scratches on wheels and such. What are the pieces?

[ranorris2]

It's an escalade roof rack...the chrome on them. So you and Serge think it would be fairly easy to remove these scratches based on the link above? I am nervous to mess it up more, but I guess I'll have to try it, then if it doesn't work or makes it worse I'll look into the re-chroming of them.

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------

Also...my roof rack end caps are at the body shop now to be painted, do you guys think this is something a body shop could polish out quite easily and reasonably priced?

[ranorris2]

Well this process did not work, if anything made it worse...I'm going to look into re-chroming the roof rack. I'm sure it will be more than I want to pay but less than buying a new rack...I'm going to have to be more careful when buying chrome parts from now on...this blows.


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[soulsea]

That does suck ... :(

In my experience most chrome accessories get damaged during install, uninstall, and inadequate wrapping when shipping ... especially the latter.

[ranorris2]

It was wrapped extremely well, so cant say it was the shipping...honestly I dont even know how one would get so many scratches on the side rails of a roof rack, but whatever...i guess if getting them dipped in chrome is $200 or less ill do it, if not I guess ill buy new rails dammit...im getting pissed just thinking about it. I hate wasting money due to my OCD.

[yates ™]

What did you use?

[ranorris2]

well first i took it to the body shop I use and they could not do anything for it....then i used a steel wool '0000' grade, which is the finest they make, with two different polishes. First I tried Mcguire's car polish, then Mcguire's chrome polish...

---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:25 PM ----------

Do any of you guys know how much getting parts "chromed" cost? Examples or whatever you have heard...there are a few shops fairly close to me that do good work from what I researched but I can't find pricing anywhere.

[ranorris2]

So I am not a happy camper...
I took the chrome rails to the body shop I use and they sent them to the chrome shop they use. Just got called back today saying they could not buff out the scratches and would have to dip them in chrome. BUT they said if they do this the back side of them, where the cross bars would go, would be like a goldish color. WTF?!?!? Anybody that have the esky roof rack, are the back side of your rails goldish or am I just talking to a someone who doesn't chrome very well?

I have definitely learned my lesson on buying any thing without a return policy...I paid $300 for this rack with cross bars, thinking I would probably just have to repaint the caps. Little did I know I was going to have to jb weld parts of the plastic back together, get the rails rechromed, find out the cross rails don't even fit the rack, as well as paint the caps. This F'ing $300 piece of crap will turn into $600 if I get it rechromed. If I could return this thing I would, even after painting the end caps I would sacrifice the $70 to get my $300 back....this incident has pissed me off and scared me enough to only buy from a certain few on this forum.

[felixgun]

I can't believe you got the wrong cross bars that's just plain wrong!

[ranorris2]

Yeah I'm pretty frustrated about it all...I'm going to see how much some new rails are if I can find some. I thought I remember them being a tough find at the moment, so with the way my luck is going I wont have a roof rack for a while.

[ranorris2]

Well...I am getting the rails rechromed for $100 bucks. I am hoping they come out ok, and I have found someone that will buy my tahoe stock roof rack with the crossrails that were supposed to be for the esky roof rack, but actually fit the tahoe. It will take some of my painful experience of this purchase away lol.

[ranorris2]

Got the roof rack back from being rechromed and the caps repainted....now it looks brand spankin new...only had to pay $500 for a stupid esky rack...should of bought new to begin with (purchase $300 + paint $100 + rechrome $100)....live and learn I guess